The Betty Cat is Back

Posted on March 31, 2012 by Jerrie Cate

So, there I was, next to the garage, digging a ditch to drain the water out of the driveway, when Diane came out to make sure I was really working, and she looked up and said, “There she is!” Following her line of sight I saw the Betty Cat in our neighbor’s garage window. She’s been gone a week, but I’m sure she hasn’t been trapped in their garage for that long because they go somewhere every day. So, I suspect we were just being shunned for a while. Anyway, Diane’s happy because the last time she saw the Betty Cat was just before it got all stormy and she wanted in pretty badly. But, we made her stay outside. So, we both thought, perhaps, a coyote snacked her up. That’s a pretty common thing around here. Cats go missing all the time. But, she came back for a visit.

After making sure I was still working, Diane took Ziva to the vet to see what’s going on with the area around her tail. Ziva’s tail, not Diane’s. Ziva worries it all the time and has managed to remove some of the hair and make little scabby patches on her skin. Doc said she had allergic dermatitis. Probably from a flea. She said it only takes one flea bite on some animals. Ziva doesn’t have fleas so it must have been a visiting flea from some other country. They are not allowed in our house, so she must have encountered it in the back yard as the flea was passing through. Who knows? Certainly not me.

Diane went to visit her Mom, Jean, a while ago and has since returned. When she got back she decided we needed a pizza for dinner so she went back to Papa Murphey’s to get one. We really like Papa Murphey’s. She’s since returned from that trip, too. As a matter of fact, the pizza just finished cooking while we were on the porch watching a spectacular thunder storm. Lightening abounds. I tried getting a picture but my camera isn’t fast enough to do that. So, I’ll just share a picture I found on Bing…

That’s actually the picture of a lightening strike in Oregon that I could have easily took had my camera been of a better quality. But it isn’t, so I couldn’t. But, what we watched was pretty much like this. The storm didn’t last very long but it was pretty dramatic. It provided Diane a chance to ensure the ditch she made me dig worked adequately. I was pleased that it did, otherwise I would have had to go outside in the cold rain to fix it.

While Diane and Ziva were at the vet, I left the door open so the Betty Cat could enter if she wished. She did and it made Ozzie run around in circles like a … well, like a little poodle on speed. He does that a lot. Spin in circles. We think he does it when he’s happy, or excited, or needs to go outside. We’re not quite sure which it is, but he, and the big dogs, know what “Outside” means. At that word they all head for the door and Ozzie starts spinning in circles, barking with his annoying little voice.

The cat went in and out, like all cats do, and we decided she’s an outdoor cat because that’s where she appears to be most comfortable. She did come in for a while, however, and sat in my lap long enough to make Ziva a little jealous. So, Ziva jabbed her nose at the cat, daring her to do something about it, and she did. She whacked Ziva on the nose about six times in a matter of milliseconds. She’s fast. The problem was, being in my lap and all, created a situation where the cat had to secure herself in case she had to attack. meaning that her other three feet had to dig in, if you know what I mean. The end result of all that excitement was about a 3 inch gash on my right foot, which I happened to have in the chair with me. It bled severely. Sadly, the camera was too far away for me to get it before Diane covered it with bandages. It took three large ones. And it hurt, a lot.

Now it’s late and time for bed so I must quit. But, I’m in the process of printing out our church’s newsletter, which I’m forced to create each month, and can’t stop until it’s done. I would have done it earlier, but Diane made me eat pizza and watch TV with her instead. So, I’m running a little late. Actually, she didn’t make me watch TV with her. I made that up.

Tomorrow I’ll take a picture of my cat wound after the bandaids fall off in the shower. I’m sure you’ll be impressed to learn, after you see it, that I did not cry. Not once. But, I did reintroduce the cat to the porch. We were both happy about that.

Now I’m really quitting.

Monday Lunch @ Village Inn

Posted on March 27, 2012 by Jerrie Cate

Hi – There’s more than lunch to this day, but as I sat down, that’s all that came to mind. So, I’m just going to ramble incoherently for a little while and see what else might leak out of my festered brain. Hard telling.

OK, for one, PC, the porch cat, hasn’t been around for a few days. Funny that he stuck around the entire time we were traveling, she was here every day. Apparently, at least one of those days, was spent in the garage. There’s evidence that she helped herself to one of the bags of dog food, according to the teeth marks. I guess she can’t read, yet.

Anyway, after we got home, she really, really, wanted to come inside the house, so I let her. And, she let the dogs get up close and personal. Perhaps she figured it just wasn’t worth sticking around, and putting up with nosey dogs and decided to seek solace elsewhere. Either that, or she went off somewhere to meditate about her future. The overall result of this is that Diane’s sad. Not me. I’m tough when it comes to cats. We don’t need no stupid little kitty. But, if she comes back, I may change my mind. For Diane.

So, Ozzie checked the clock this morning and, right at 7:00 am he started jumping around on me. He’s a vicious little alarm clock, but really accurate. I just wish I could reprogram him to a later time. I suppose the solution is for me to go to sleep sooner then it wouldn’t be a big deal. I keep trying to do that, but Diane won’t go to bed at a decent time and I’m not allowed to go to bed before her because she might want something. Sometimes, when I ask her something, she tells me she can’t hear around corners, but apparently she thinks I can. When that happens, I just take a guess at what she wants. Most of the time I have at least an inkling about the request, but when that’s missing I just get her a Klondike Bar. The Heath Bar kind. She loves those, especially when she doesn’t ask for one. It’s a safe choice.

Our morning went slowly because we didn’t do much of anything until it was time to get dressed and head to the Village Inn in Portland. We went to the one on Weidler Ave, near the Lloyd Center, where the ice rink is located. Until then, we were just running around the house naked. Actually, we didn’t run around the house at all. We just sat in our computer chairs. And, we weren’t both naked. Diane won’t let me be naked in the house anymore because sometimes I forget and answer the front door.

We left home, for lunch, early enough to stop by Fred Meyer to get the $5 discount for the new U of O hat Diane got me to replace the one I left by the pool in Las Vegas. It’s bright yellow and it’s imperative that I wear brightly colored head gear when we leave the house so Diane can pick me out of a crowd when I wander away. We used to rely on phones, which is the reason I was allowed to get one, but that doesn’t work when she buries hers in the bottom of her purse, with the ringer off. Or, is that me, with the phone in my hip pocket with the ringer off? It’s one of those. Since we were only going to a restaurant, where there’s little danger of getting lost, this is what I wore …

That’s my Ho-Chi-Min hat that Diane got me. It’s made by Coleman, in China, and it’s really warm. Since it’s spring now, I decided that I’m not going to wear it any more until next fall, or winter. It makes my head sweat and messes up my hair. I’d take another picture to show you, but I don’t want to embarrass Diane. Over the past 44 years I’ve learned that’s not a very smart thing to do. The punishment is vividly memorable.

At lunch were Tom, Coleen, Linda, Vie, Nelda, Jerry2, Jerry1, me, and Diane. That’s the order we sat in around the tables that were jammed together. Tom, Diane, me, and Jerry1 sat across from the other four. No, make that the other five. Diane and I had breakfast. Everyone else ate lunch. Jerry1 ordered breakfast, but didn’t eat it. Instead he took it home. It was biscuits and gravy, and looked pretty good.

During lunch I learned a variety of things, most notably was about the time Tom word a pair of his wife’s underwear to work. Apparently it pretty exciting, for a lot people, when they came off while he was in line for a slushy at Wendy’s during lunch. They didn’t actually come off because he really wasn’t wearing them. They were just sticking out of the top of his pants and tickling his leg when he walked. Frankly, I don’t see anything wrong with that, at all. I’d prefer to wear them but, hey, tangling them down my pants is an excellent alternative. Go, Tom!

Also, Tom has a unique filing system for his receipts. Especially those that are stuck to products with tape upon purchase. Once he gets home he sits on them, for some reason, sans underwear. I promised him I wouldn’t say anything about that, but changed my mind. You’ve just got to wonder how a receipt, stuck to a ling piece of red tape, can get stuck to your ass, inside your underwear, and not know it. Maybe I should say that “most’ people might wonder how that can happen, but I have no illusions about the possibility of things like that happening. I do admit, however, that having experienced many weird “things” in my short life, I am not surprised at what happened to Tom, and kind of envy him because he enjoyed such a strange event of this magnitude before me. It’s pretty classic. I’m really proud of Tom for sharing this wonderful story.

Jerry1 arrived last. He called as we were driving to PDX to find out how to get to the Village Inn. I gave him the instructions, and he didn’t have any problem finding us. He reported that he joined a new car club – The Pharaohs. Now he’s in three of those – the TVCC, the Camaro Car Club, and The Pharaohs. I learned that The Pharaohs were the car club in American Graffiti in 1973. Jerry1’s been a really busy guy. He’s also in a variety of bowling leagues around the greater metropolitan Vancouver & Portland areas. We don’t know where he bowls, yet, but when we find out we’re going to rename his team “The Nads”. Then we can stand behind the team and yell “Go Nads, Go!”

I would have had more to share of today’s events, but everyone quit talking after that because they saw I was taking notes. I have to do that, now, since my memory is fading fast. Then, again, not remembering anything hasn’t stopped me from coming up with a lot to say about nothing so far, so I suppose I didn’t really need to take notes.

Except, taking notes of Tom’s experiences allowed me to capture proof that truth really can be stranger than fiction. Receipts taped to your ass … I’m afraid I’ll be dreaming about that tonight. How fun!

It’s Sunday – That Means Church

Posted on March 25, 2012 by Jerrie Cate

The dogs got me up at the regulation 7 am. They made a short trip outside at which time I filled all their food bowls, including the Porch Cat’s (PC for short). PC is integrating herself (I think) into the dog’s world b not running away when they approach her. She’s discovered that all they want to do is sniff her, a lot, so she lets them. I suppose it won’t be long before she move into the house. She’s already made a couple of scouting missions, just to see what happens.

After eating my banana this morning, I laid down on the Man Room sofa to read a little. That didn’t last long. Instead, I took a nap until Diane got up and insisted that I get ready for church because we had to go early because she had to get the flowers on the altar. Then, after we got there, she discovered that she wasn’t supposed to do flowers until next week so now we have to go to church early again.

On the way to church, we snagged Cedric, Lydia, and Jeran. Jennie was working and Daniel was sleeping after working all night so they went to church with us. They are normally Baptists, but today they were Lutherans.

After church we went to Zhen’s Chinese food joint. It used to be Lucky Inn, but the cook bought it and renamed it. The food is totally awesome. We ate dead chicken, dead pig, and a little dead cow. There was, of course, lots of vegetables, rice, and tea. After boxing up the majority of the food, we went home where Lydia and I played catch in the back yard, then started the burn pile. Turns out that Lydia is a little pyro art heart. But most kidlets are. She’s going to transition to teenager status tomorrow. The big 13!

Jeran isolated himself from folks a little today because it’s the anniversary of his first seizure two years ago. He always has that in his thoughts because it was a pretty scary time for him. And us.

All of the kids are happy that it’s Spring Break. I don’t ever remember having Spring Break when I went to school. As I recall, we had to go to school all year long. Never got a day off for holidays, either. And we walked to school because there were no buses. I could go on, but I won’t.

I’m early with this today because I’m tuckered out after playing catch and burning stuff. My shoulders hurt, I’m sweaty, and thirsty. So, I’m going to kill two birds with one stone and take a shower and drink from the faucet. Diane hates when I do that. She took the kids, and her Mom, home a little while ago, and I expect her back any second.

Before I go I have to impart some wisdom from Jeran. He told me that whenever he makes his Mom mad at him in the morning, his feet hurt all day long. Confused, I asked him why. He said, “because she ties my shoes too tight when she’s mad.” You’d think there would be a lesson there, wouldn’t you?

She’s home. Gotta go.

Ahhhh! Choooo! Spring is here!

Posted on March 23, 2012 by Jerrie Cate

Greetings Everyone. Nothing much to report today except I wore my jammies most of the day. Only took them off when I mowed the yard. Diane got a little upset about that and made me put pants on. But it was so nice outside today it just brought out the nudist in me. After I finished mowing, I dropped all my duds in the laundry room, as directed, then marched directly to the shower. It’s good that no one was visiting at the time. Then I re-donned my jammies. I believe I was out of them no more than 3 hours all day. Nice.

It was a 4 mountain day for sure – Mt. St. Helens, Mt. Adams, Mt. Hood, and Mt. Jeffereson strutted their stuff for us.

I also cut a couple of branches out of one of the apple trees but Diane made me quit. She thought it was too late to trim them, but we weren’t home when it was just right. I think I’ll do it tomorrow anyway. I’m tired of half killing myself trying to get under the branches with the lawn mower. I’m going to rip out a few branches on the plum tree, too. Actually, I didn’t cut them down today because the batter for my chain saw was dead and it’s now recharging. It’s been a little problematical for a while so the solution may be to replace it with a noisy gas version. Then I’d have to get one of those masks that crazy Texan wore in the movie and I’d probably scare the dogs and they’d chase me causing me to drop the chain saw which would cut up my leg and make me bleed to pieces. That would just make extra work for Diane, so maybe I won’t do that.

We have a porch cat. We’ve really had a porch cat for a couple of months. She started letting us pet her last month, and now the dogs are getting cozy with her. The big ones, anyway. Little Ozzie goes out, looks at the cat, and spins in circles a couple of times then launches at her. The cat’s figured this out and just ducks which confuses Oz because she’s supposed to run. I’ve noticed the last few times he’s tried that he’s less enthusiastic so the cat is training him nicely.

Tomorrow, if it’s dry again, I should be able to pick up the grass I mowed today. It was too heavy with moisture for me to use the bagger so I just flung it around in the yard. If it rains tomorrow, and the next, it will make a mess because there’s globs of it all over the yard and it will make spots. Can’t have spots in the yard. Weeds, yes. Spots, no.

I might also rent a gas powered trencher thing tomorrow to make a path for the water to drain out of our driveway to the back of our property. If I do that, I’ll be sure to have Diane take pictures of all the new injuries I’m sure it will cause. I’ve never used one of them before. I’ll bet one of those things could really chew someone up if the tripped and fell on it. Hopefully it’s one of those that quits if the operator falls on it, or something.

Day One – Recovery

Posted on March 22, 2012 by Jerrie Cate

Last night was brutal. it was our first night back in our very own bed and it wasn’t a good one. Apparently I’ve begun having violent dreams where it’s necessary to kick people and the one I had last night revealed that the reason I can’t kick very hard in my dreams is because the covers get in the way and hamper my kicking motion. The covers do, however, help protect Diane, and the little dog, to some degree, at least until they can get clear of the action. For me, it ended when I finally freed my feet from the covers, delivered the final kick, which won the battle, and wound up on the floor next to my pillow. I climbed right back in bed and went back to sleep. Diane said she was standing in the middle of the room by then, and little Ozzie was cowering on the chest at the foot of the bed. Nice. I believe this new behavior is the result of the MOW trauma I received last Monday. I’m waiting for the VA to tell me they will graciously let me visit my doctor to determine if there is anything they can do for this, or if it’s terminal and I’ll just have to deal with it until I die.

Consequently, I did not wake up refreshed this morning. And, I didn’t eat any breakfast because we didn’t have bananas. That’s what I eat. I ate a bowl of Cheerios instead, but it just isn’t the same. I had toast, too, which helped.

I don’t remember what I did after breakfast – perhaps I helped put away clothes out of the suitcases, perhaps not. I haven’t looked yet to verify that. I did, however, pay a house call to a friend who was having computers problems with some problematic software that installed itself. It took me 4 hours to resolve the problem. During that time we had a nice visit and caught up on each other’s lives, something we do not do often enough.

After doing that I returned home to watch TV, but Diane made me do “stuff”. First, I had to wash our red potatoes. I don’t know why, because they looked perfectly clean to me. Besides, they were going to be baked so anything on them would have been fried. So I washed them and poked holes in them and put them in the microwave, which has a hidden potato button on it, and I couldn’t find it. Diane had to show me where it was which I found to be very humiliating for some reason. She got it going and should have been responsible for cleaning up the one that exploded all over inside the microwave but, noooooo, it was my chore because I apparently hadn’t poked holes in it properly. She said I volunteered to clean it up, and I vaguely recall something like that, but don’t think I should have been held totally responsible for something the microwave did. It should be self cleaning, like the real oven.

Diane’s Mom, Jean, was here when I got home from my computer visit. She went to the store with Diane and stayed for dinner. We love having her here because getting her home is so simple. She lives at the bottom of the hill we live on so all we have to do is put her coat on, aim her in the right direction and give here a little push and she’s on her way. That’s not something we ever do, of course, but I have suggested it in the past. I’ve been banned from making such suggestions for the rest of my life, but I do it anyway.

I didn’t mention that it snowed last night, did I? It was kind of like waking up last Tuesday, in Nampa, with about 2 inches of snow on the ground after having a terrific day on Monday. The difference here was it didn’t go away nearly as quickly as it did in Nampa.

After supper, a super roast with veggies and mashed baked red potatoes, plus a little that was splattered inside the microwave, Diane and Mom watched some girly shows while I retired to the Man Room to watch silent NCAA basketball games. They’re silent because I’m not allowed to turn on my sound because it interferes with the girly shows. That’s OK because I like it that way, too. It really is less distracting with the sound off.

I just want you to know that yesterday was a record day for the blog because 36 people looked at it. Or, maybe, one person looked at it 36 times. I can’t tell which it is, but it’s still nice to know that someone’s reading this. I don’t. And, I do enjoy your comments. Thank you for expressing yourselves, even in a negative way.

Diane just took Mom home, without pushing her, so now I have to pay all the bills that have accumulated during our absence. We suspended our mail delivery so Diane had to take our hand truck to the post office so she could haul all our junk mail to the vehicle.

No pictures of todays events so here’s one you may, or may not enjoy, that I just happen to have on hand. It’s a nice picture, but I don’t know who any of those people are.

Day Thirteen – Nellis Air Force Base

Standard | Posted on March 15, 2012 by Jerrie Cate

It’s almost 8:00 pm and here we are, firmly ensconced in our room. In Las Vegas. What’s with that? Well, let me tell you.

The original plan was to attend the Donny & Marie concert at the Flamingo Theater, but apparently they found out and cancelled their concerts for the rest of the week. Diane and I suffered through a grueling 2.5 hour presentation to get those tickets, but Donny & Marie took them away by choosing to not show up. I say that, but don’t really know why the shows were cancelled, and hope it isn’t due to someone being hurt or ill. We seriously hope the isn’t the case. If it isn’t, and they cancelled simply because they discovered we were going to be there, I’ve decided that I’m no longer infatuated with Marie and demand that Diane also lose her childish lust for Donny. You should have seen here oogling over him when he was on “Dancing With The Stars”. Sure, he won, and he’s really cute when he looks at you in certain ways. But, c’mon! He’s a little bit rock ‘n roll, and Marie is country! The choice is obvious.

The unwanted phone call, alerting us about the cancellation, came as I was witnessing a truly life changing demonstration of a Vitamix blender at the base exchange on Nellis AFB. This is the home base for the Air Force Thunderbirds, the Air Force equivalent of the Navy’s Blue Angels. We drove down to the flight line, where the Thunderbirds Museum is located, and joined a group of people who were waiting for the Thunderbirds to return. During the wait other fighters were taking off, landing, and making low level passes over the runway. Very impressive, with lots of noise that jiggled us to the core. It was a good thing, though. Our lives revolved around the military for so long that it’s now part of our genetic code, and will not go away. Diane’s been known to say how much she loves that feeling of safety she gets when on a military base. The sights and sounds associated with being there just don’t go away, and are welcome. Missed, actually.

This is Diane walking to the entrance of the Thunderbirds Museum that had closed 25 minutes before we got there …

There I go, getting all melancholy again. Sorry.

Once we got the call that there would be no Donny & Marie tonight, we kind of lost ll interest in doing anything. I mean, we had the afternoon & evening all planned out. I even picked out the clothes I was going to wear, and everything. I put all away when we got back to the room, but I think I even had socks picked out. Me! Socks! Unheard of!

Anyway, after looking around the base, and getting the bad news, we motored back down Las Vegas Blvd to our accommodations. It was an uneventful trip. Diane drove to the front entrance and made me get out so I could talk with the Concierge Ladies about our lack of evening entertainment. They were all very nice about it but didn’t have a solution. Instead, they both pointed to the Welcome Desk Lady indicating that she would resolve this. The chosen replacement was tickets to VEGAS!, and dinner. That works. Regarding the Concierge Ladies, don’t get me wrong. They were very sympathetic, and friendly but apparently their computers do not allow them to make the substitutes necessary to rectify issues of this magnitude. Or, which is more likely, the Welcome Lady is who originally issued the Donny & Marie tickets so it was she who had to fix it.

While I was negotiating all of this, Diane had parked the vehicle, walked by, and went to the room. I followed shortly thereafter, but she wasn’t in the room when I got there. Then I remembered that I had left my iPad in the vehicle so went back down to get it. The Concierge Ladies, and the Welcome Lady said diane had come back looking for me and they told her I’s gone up to the room, which I had. It’s obvious that were passing each other in the elevators, somewhere around the 9th floor. I Got my iPad and was returning when Diane called, asking me to open the door so she could get into the room. She had left her door key in the room. So, instead of waiting for the elevator, I ran up all 17 flights of stairs as fast as I could. It wasn’t nearly as fast as the elevator, and I think the effort was lost on Diane because she’d been left standing in the hall. Because she forgot her key. Which wasn’t my fault. Honest.

Once we both got back in the room, at the same time, we decided to live it up a little and each ate one of our emergency Lean Cuisine TV dinners. I ate the one that had absolutely no flavor so it was OK that I ate two pieces of bread with it.

Then we went to the pool and laid in the sun for a while. Diane’s knee has been bothering her a lot so she got into the pool thinking the cool water would make it feel better, and it did. I took a picture of her exercising it while clinging to the side of the pool. But I used her phone to take the picture and she won’t let me get it. She wasn’t really exercising. She was standing in the water, draped on the edge, reading her Kindle. Naked. Of course you know that’s a lie but, technically, underneath that swimming suit, she was naked as a J-bird.

Does anyone really know what a J-bird is? Sounds like something that lives in Connecticut.

I think my brain is sufficiently drained that I’ll be able to sleep tonight. Tomorrow we’re going to ride the monorail all over the place.

Day Ten – Off to Las Vegas

Standard | Posted on March 12, 2012 by Jerrie Cate

We were up at the crack of dawn, packed everything up, and were on the road by 8:30 am, and made it to Las Vegas, unscathed, by noon. At 1:00 pm Diane hit a jackpot on a quarter machine for $86,437.00. As she was cashing in, a young nubile girl walked up to me and attached herself to my arm and said Diane sent her over thinking I needed company while I waited for her … then I woke up.

It was 9:30 am. Diane was reminding, in a fairly loud manner, that we only had 30 minutes before we had to check out of the condo. She already had everything in the kitchen boxed up, ready for transport. As I left the bedroom, she entered and started filling the suitcases. What a gal. All I had to do was hurk all of it down three flights of stairs to the vehicle. There is no elevator in any of the buildings. And, I lied because I only had to hurk everything down one floor.

By the way, the above picture is of our room. It’s the corner unit on the top floor. I already shared our view out the front, so don’t need to do that again, do I?

We chose to head north a little ways and take State Road 76 to I-15, which goes smack through the middle of Las Vegas. Before we got to SR-76 Google Maps told me we could take Oceanside Blvd to SR-76, and get off I-5 a little sooner. What we learned by doing this is that Oceanside Blvd connects to Mission Blvd and goes for miles, and miles before allowing access to SR-76. They make you go through about 8 major malls along the way before allowing access to the road allowing quicker access through the town.

Finally, we made it! We were truly on the way.

Then I decided to get to work on the iPad but I failed to plug it in last night so the battery was only charged to 48% and that wasn’t nearly enough. So, I felt around on the floor for my DC to AC converter. I have to use that because the iPad won’t charge using the USB connection of the other nifty little gizmos I have. I don’t know why, and don’t really care, because it wouldn’t do ay good to care. Anyway, after digging around for a while I camer to the conclusion that either someone had robbed us, and taken only the converter, or I had relocated it to the rear compartment that was now under the suitcases, and about a couple hundred pounds of other “stuff”. Thankfully, Diane’s kidney’s required relief so we jumped off the freeway at Barstow to patronize a California Visitor Center. That was pretty tricky because the signs led us into a huge parking lot that was surrounded by four strip malls. We had to pull to the middle and stop so we could search for the Visitor’s Center, which we wanted because we knew they had restrooms, and found it tucked into one corner.

Before going in we opened thr back hatch and I lifted up the suitcases, and other stuff, while Diane looked in the compartment. Thankfully, the converter was there so we could relieve ourselves calmly, allowing all the urine to drain completely, unlike what would have happened had we been tensed up.

Unfortunately, plugging the converter into the power port didn’t produce any results because the insides of the plug were missing. I surmised that, since the missing parts had a threaded component, it was no doubt still in the compartment, under the suitcases. Since wer were already moving, at 86 mph, I chose to seek an alternative way to resurrect the converter.

Since Agnus has a similar configuration for the power port plug, I chose to dismantle it to see if I could make the AC converter functional. Try as I might, I could not unscrew the knurled section of Agnus’ part, so needed a tool. Fortunately, I carry a bag of computer tools with Diane’s laptop and it has a pair of needle nose pliers. Using those, I accomplished my mission. I got it apart. Now all I had to do was transfer the parts from Agnus’ power plug to the AC converter power plug and see what blew up. That took a little engineering, and the pliers again. The threaded portion from Agnus didn’t quite match the converter but I discovered that, by using the pliers, it wasn’t that difficult to force the threads into the plastic portion of the plug. So, if you ever have to do this, now you know how. It works. The only problem was that Agnus would have to function without external power for a while.

I let the AC converter propel the iPad charge up to 82%, then reassembled all the plugs to their normal configuration. Knowing the process made reversing it simple.

I’ve shared the foregoing details with you because there isn’t anything else to write about on this leg of the trip. I-15 is flanked by miles and miles of sage brush interspersed with random towns and cities which all look alike. It’s as if the towns and cities are comprised of nothing but mall, after mall, and they are all the same color as their desert surroundings.

This what it looks like most of the way …

We went through Baker which has a population of 600 peoples. Apparently they’re either having difficulty with their sewage facilities, or it just smells that way all the time. A little south of Baker is an exit for Zzyzx Road. Really. It’s named Zzyzx. I didn’t think it was legal to use words in America that don’t have vowels. Interesting. Kinda made us want to get off and see what it was all about. Maybe that’s why they named it that. Interesting.

We arrived at our destination at 4:30 pm. Diane sat in the driveway until I got checked in then I went out to get all our “stuff” and take it to the room. While I, and Randy, were loading the luggage carts Diane went inside to the restroom so she wouldn’t have to help. She returned just in time to move the vehicle to the adjacent parking lot while Randy jockeyed the carts (two of them) into the elevator and to our room. It was kinda funny going through the lobby of a Hilton hotel with boxes of food, and bags of various other “things”. It didn’t really matter, however, because we didn’t meet anyone on the way who felt the need for an explanation.

We’re on the 17th floor of Hilton’s newest condo facility in Las Vegas. It’s a renovated hotel but we don’t know what it used to be called. Doesn’t matter. It’s a very nice place. We’re happy. Our view is of the Stratosphere on the strip. This is what it looked like before the sun went down …

This what it looked about 5 minutes ago. It’s got lots of lights.

Day Nine – Laundry & Costco

Standard | Posted on March 11, 2012 by Jerrie Cate

Greetings.

First, did everyone turn their clocks ahead last night? If not, you’re living in the past and are probably an hour late for everything today.

Today we set around most of the day reading our books. Diane’s going crazy buying books on the Kindle, now that she knows how. I can say stuff like that because she’s made it pretty clear that she doesn’t read this blog for a reason. I don’t know what the reason is but, since she doesn’t read it, I can say anything about what she does, or doesn’t do, without fear. The only thing that would ruin that for me is if one of you broke this bond of trust I’ve established with you, and casually mentioned it in a phone conversation or an email.

I got up first this morning and tippy-toed around the condo like a ninja until Diane got up. That didn’t take long because I couldn’t help myself and did a jump-kick accompanied by a fairly loud “HI YAAAA!”. I was immediately sorry for getting so into character. Next time I get up first I’ll sneak around like something more quiet. Or, just sit quietly until summoned.

After Diane arose, we made breakfast … pancakes, eggs, and bacon. It was really good, but my last meal that tastes good until I get my blood sugar down a little. It’s not overly high, but the potential is there and i need to be a good boy and eat properly. Probably getting out and exercising a little wouldn’t hurt either. Along those lines, we walked around the resort today and discovered that they have a really nice little gym at right next to our unit. Go figure.

Then we went to Costco to get some plastic containers for some of the food we have in open boxes. Like sugar and Cheerios. There may other stuff, but those are the important ones.

When we returned from Costco I carried our dirty clothes to the laundry area so Diane could wash them. It’s not that I refuse to do laundry, as if it’s a woman’s job, which it is, but rather because I’m not allowed to do laundry. That career ended when I washed one of Diane’s sweaters, dried it, then picked almost all of it out of the lint trap. So, today I just stayed out of the way doing what I was gold to do. Most notably, she showed me one of my shirts that had some spots that only she could see. We were in a rather dark room so she told me to go out in the sun and look for spots. So I did. And, I got in trouble right away because she didn’t tell me to take the shirt with me. I went back and got it, took it out in the sun, but still couldn’t see them. But, I smeared laundry soap all over the front, as directed, to ensure any possible spot was covered.

We didn’t eat supper. Actually, I don’t think we ate lunch, either. I guess that’s because we ate breakfast in place of lunch and there wasn’t enough time to eat dinner because our clocks were an hour off.

Now it’s late and time for bed. Tomorrow when we get up we’ll pack up all our stuff and head to Las Vegas. It’s been a good week.

Winter in Carlsbad

Standard | Posted on March 6, 2012 by Jerrie Cate

I just finished about three hours of typing today’s entry when, ZAP!, it all just disappeared. It was a really good one, too. But, I’m not going to try to redo it because I’m a little bummed.

It included everything that happened today, in vivid detail, and I was trying to end it with a photo of dinner when things went bad.

In a nutshell, today was cold compared to yesterday. Hence the title. Had to wear a jacket all day and it was overcast. I think I mentioned that the local weathermen decided there was a one-day cold front in the area, but the rest of our stay will be nice and sunny.

We went to San Diego which is a 35 mile, 45 minute trip.

I got a new military ID card and a base pass for the car. While I was doing that Diane got the oil changed in the car, gassed it up, did some shopping and returned to park in the furthest space away from where I was. It was planned, I’m sure.

We returned to the condo and cooked dinner and just rested. I rested so much I fell asleep.

Now it’s time for bed. We hope for sun tomorrow.

Day Three – Carlsbad, CA

Posted on March 5, 2012 by Jerrie Cate

Day Three
March 5, 2012
Our brief stay in Fresno ended at 0915 this morning. It was then we raced to our vehicle and headed on down the freeway. I won the race so got to drive first. I drove for almost 3 hours. During that time I only scared Diane twice, and she only got mad at me once. That’s a modern day record for three hours.

Bad coffee at Hampton Inn & Suites continued to be the norm so we started a search for Starbucks a little north of Bakersfield. We didn’t find one until we reached Lebec. That’s where Highway 99 and I-5 become one. There was a McDonalds located conveniently next to the Starbucks so we decided to eat a meal to get us through Los Angeles. This meal reminded us why we typically do not eat at McDonalds because the quality of their food, compared with pretty much any other fast food joint, sucks. Bad as it was, we deemed ourselves fortunate to have discovered sustenance, though we didn’t really need it. As we were finishing, the place filled up with customers, then a bus load of girls in really short shorts stopped and they all came in adding to the growing noise level. As a result, Diane made me ditch the last three french fries and the last two bites of my terrible 1/4 Pounder so we could leave. I didn’t deem the loss to be a big sacrifice. Once in the car, she made me throw away my drink cup as there wouldn’t be room for both it and my Starbucks drink. Meekly I complied, though I had a large number of sips remaining.

After we obtained our marriage-saving caffeinated beverages, Diane assumed the drivers position and we leaped into the southbound traffic toward Los angeles. Diane suggested that we should have filled the tank, but I reminded her that we made a decision that we weren’t going to spend any less on gas than we have to. It’s bound to be much more expensive on the other side of the Grape Vine.

Speaking of the Grape Vine … there was still a trace of snow up there and the temperature was 72. Admittedly, the snow was a few hundred feet higher than we were, so it was surely colder where it was.

By 1230 the caffeine kicked in for Diane and she was a very pleasant person to be near the rest of the day. It helped that she knew she wasn’t going to have to drive but a couple of hours because of the sacrifice I made with the donation of my three hours behind the wheel, dodging trucks.

We arrived at our destination at 1500, pretty much on the dot. For you non military folks, that’s 3pm. We needed food and, as luck would have it, there’s a COSTCO about a mile away. So, that was our first visit after getting our “stuff” to the condo.

We are on the top floor and this is the sight that greeted us upon our return from shopping. Not lot to say after this …